Advice Request: how to evaluate if promotion is worthwhile

[Double Yu]

Here are the salient details - please help me figure out if a promotion I've been offered at my PT work is worth taking.

• I am recently 'liberated' from being a caregiver at home.
• A huge gap in my employment history has made it a challenge to find FT work with benefits, so for now I work part-time and am also self-employed part time.
• My PT work earns me $12/hr and averages 20-25 hours/week (monthly, approx $960-1200 gross). While it's something I enjoy part time, it's not something I'm pining to do for 40 hours per week - UNLESS it's really worth it, financially
• self employed work earns me ~$5000/year (it's sporadic) - hourly, it pays me 2-3x more than the part time work, depending on job & client
• My DH works overseas for the time being - 1.5 years left on contract, he has some apps in the pipeline (also overseas) and if those don't pan out, he's looking to change careers. So, transitions ahead!
• We're on track to have 1 year's worth of (slim) expense money saved before DH's contract ends so we can have a cushion (he's burnt out and would like some recuperation time if he has the chance)
• We "screwed up" by having DH come home before 330 days had elapsed and so we lost the right to the Foreign Earned Income Tax Credit for 2017. We also 'lost' one daughter as a dependent AND because the IRS didn't like the hunk of change we owed them, we now have to pre-pay estimated taxes quarterly.
• Youngest kid is graduating high school this year and plans to attend 2yrs of community college before transferring to university. Right now, because of our income, she qualifies for financial aid. Changes to said income need to not screw that up too much - there are some 529 funds available to her, but not tons.
• Our income was just a few thousand off from letting me qualify for Medi-Cal - instead I have to purchase health ins. (infrequent user), if it gets much more expensive, though, it'll eat too big of a chunk of money and ???

Today my boss asked if I wanted to be the general manager of the cafe where I work. It would certainly bulk up my resume, but I need to know if it's actually a smart move and I'm not sure how to evaluate it.

As we are relatively low-income, it's hard to not assume that any increase in pay is a good thing, but if our tax bill is even higher, health insurance costs increase, or our youngest doesn't get a good financial aid package right as she wants to transfer to a 4 year (in two years' time)... then this move might not be worth it.

How would you recommend I go about evaluating this?

Thank you!

edited to add details about self-employment

[formerlydivorcedmom]

What would your hours look like as a general manager?  My sister was a manager in retail once, and she worked very long hours and only got paid for 40/week.  Is that worth it to you?  Would the hours cut into your self-employment, and, if so, how would that impact your long-term prospects at this self-employment?

How much extra money would this be?  Would it come with health insurance or other benefits?

Do you have short- and long-term financial goals?  How would this potential promotion impact those?

[asiljoy]

1) Do you WANT to be a manager? Are you going to want management jobs in the future? This is a very different role than an individual contributor.
1a) What are the new responsibilities? Are you running all the things from scheduling, to ordering, to creating menus, to managing the day to day execution? Or just when you're scheduled you're in charge?
2) What's the pay differential? Are you still hourly/is this salary now? Bonus opportunities?
3) Are there new benefits? Retirement? Health? Vacation?

[Double Yu]

These are great questions! Really helping me figure out what the pros and cons are.

To be brief: it would be hourly (40/wk, but the cafe is chronically understaffed - and my tendency is to 'over-give'). Pay rate is relatively low ($16/hr) and there are no benefits. I have little interest in managerial positions in general, but maybe it's time to step outside my comfort zone? The work hours would definitely cut into my self-employment - which pays more ($35-45/hr) but because it's attention-intensive, I am not up to full time self-employment. Working full time at the cafe would make it harder for me to do the part-time gig to the degree I do it now... I have been trying to increase my freelancing time (generate clients & get jobs more frequently) even while working at the cafe and I'm finding *surprise* I can't DO IT ALL because there's only one of me and 24 hours/day, several of which are required for sleep...

Still mulling, not super enthusiastic.

Also still feeling once-bitten by taxes and wide fluctuations in health ins. premiums (the state couldn't decide if I should pay $240 or $20/month so I'm budgeting for the former with the assumption they'll want it at some point)... anyway that's neither here nor there, except that when you're on the lower income side of things, these amounts that are miniscule to the 6-figure MMMers or the reliably-two-income folks cause drastic swings in the types of projections that can be made and affect the sense of sticker-shock when "dues" have to be paid.

[asiljoy]

These are great questions! Really helping me figure out what the pros and cons are.

To be brief: it would be hourly (40/wk, but the cafe is chronically understaffed - and my tendency is to 'over-give'). Pay rate is relatively low ($16/hr) and there are no benefits. I have little interest in managerial positions in general, but maybe it's time to step outside my comfort zone? The work hours would definitely cut into my self-employment - which pays more ($35-45/hr) but because it's attention-intensive, I am not up to full time self-employment. Working full time at the cafe would make it harder for me to do the part-time gig to the degree I do it now... I have been trying to increase my freelancing time (generate clients & get jobs more frequently) even while working at the cafe and I'm finding *surprise* I can't DO IT ALL because there's only one of me and 24 hours/day, several of which are required for sleep...

Still mulling, not super enthusiastic.

Also still feeling once-bitten by taxes and wide fluctuations in health ins. premiums (the state couldn't decide if I should pay $240 or $20/month so I'm budgeting for the former with the assumption they'll want it at some point)... anyway that's neither here nor there, except that when you're on the lower income side of things, these amounts that are miniscule to the 6-figure MMMers or the reliably-two-income folks cause drastic swings in the types of projections that can be made and affect the sense of sticker-shock when "dues" have to be paid.

So basically you would have to work 2 hours as a manager to get paid 1 at your part-time job, it's going to put you in a situation to get taken advantage of, and you still don't get benefits?

[Double Yu]

When it's all laid out, it seems so obvious.

I've been quite blithe, in the past, in my mindset that - oh any increase in income is a good thing. It's really eye-opening to realize that's not the case. Wow. There really is a disincentive to "sell my soul to the company store" so to speak. I mean I've long had a rather 'fiercely defensive of my relative-autonomy,' 'I embrace hard work, but j-o-b-s' are a 4-letter word' attitude but this is really reinforcing it.

Maybe it's time to come to terms with lower-end economic status because in spite of DH's wishful thinking, I don't see we'll make a magical leap into a higher income bracket, even if I stop being 'lazy' and submit commit to 40+hrs/week at just above minimum wage (which I just got a raise from 2 weeks ago).

Lhamo, I'll pm you later - got half an hour more of editing before I have to get ready for an appointment, visiting my dad, and work. It may be a day or two :)

edited to add: "lazy" not in DH's words, but in general societal opinion that, you know ... bootstraps!!

[formerlydivorcedmom]

I've been quite blithe, in the past, in my mindset that - oh any increase in income is a good thing. It's really eye-opening to realize that's not the case. Wow. There really is a disincentive to "sell my soul to the company store" so to speak. I mean I've long had a rather 'fiercely defensive of my relative-autonomy,' 'I embrace hard work, but j-o-b-s' are a 4-letter word' attitude but this is really reinforcing it.

Maybe it's time to come to terms with lower-end economic status because in spite of DH's wishful thinking, I don't see we'll make a magical leap into a higher income bracket, even if I stop being 'lazy' and submit commit to 40+hrs/week at just above minimum wage (which I just got a raise from 2 weeks ago).

Sometimes, the right answer is that any increase in income is the right choice.  Sometimes, that's not the case.

In large part, that depends on your financial goals - what are they?  Ours are measurable and specific (e.g., No credit card debt ever, retire at age Y with $X in savings).  Do you have any goals?

Your options don't necessarily have to be between the status quo and the manager promotion.  Would you qualify for other jobs that pay better?  Could you find the time and mental energy to increase your freelancing, in the hopes that you could quit the part-time job?

[Double Yu]

Ok, I figured something out! Yay, data is helpful!

So, in order for youngest kid to not lose her medi-cal benefits, we cannot make more than 266% of FPL (fed. poverty level) - if I were to take the job for the required number of hours, we would go above that figure.

Even if we make right up to that limit, we will remain in the same tax bracket we're currently in, though as we make more, my insurance premiums will increase. My assessment (pending lhamo's input based on her experience) of the FEIE (foreign earned income exclusion) suggests that we'll get to claim it next year, even if DH returns home again this year, as he will, to attend youngest kid's HS graduation.

I like my boss - we've known each other for a number of years and I consider her a friend and there's an easy camaraderie between us. If I had my 'druthers' though, I still wouldn't work 40hrs/week at the cafe. I like being able to go home and leave it all behind and I like having the balance between active/sociable work and the brain-work of my editing with a bit of time on the side for my own random projects.

So, there are a few reasons for me to not up my hours and responsibilities.

[use2betrix]

Is your husband in the military? Aside from that, I can’t see any job being away from your home/family so much being worthwhile if it sounds like it is very little money.